We had five goats, two dogs, a cat and racks of commentaries on Shakespeare.

A handful of older, romantic leading men, like Sean Connery, Jack Nicholson, and Robert Redford are still landing parts.

When you get to a certain age, the work begins to thin out.

Your senses are reeling all the time. Finally you find something to write and the very next day you go out and see something else which totally contradicts what you've written and every conclusion you've come to.

A car to pick me up every day, a chair with my name on it, everybody being very polite... what can you do except sit back and watch it all, try to take it all in?

I phoned this number and said, Please, sir, I want to be an actor.

You have to be selfish to be an actor.

I was a window dresser for Burton's once. What really put me off was the area manager coming round and saying, Charles, I think you're a natch at this.

You have to attempt to be objective about yourself.

If I talk about Charles Dance I am talking about something else, something I operate and wind up and have to make an impression with and use to transmit someone else's screenplay.

We had five goats, two dogs, a cat and racks of commentaries on Shakespeare.

Most films are written and made with a hero around 35, or even 25.

It's a question of keeping one's eyes and ears open and watching how other people play the game. They're watching me too, to see what my attitude is like.

I'm playing one of the principal roles, which gives you more clout and more confidence.

A while ago, I did a television adaptation of 'Bleak House,' and the character I played, as far as I was concerned, had no redeeming features whatsoever. I wasn't about to try to find any; I didn't need to.

I got a lot of energy from directing the film 'Ladies In Lavender.' You wonder if you have the stamina because as an actor you can lounge around the trailer during the scenes you're not in, but as a director, you're there from first thing in the morning to last thing at night every day of the week. I found it incredibly energising.

I mostly play old period songs, as they suit a ukulele more. I bought it when I saw the tribute concert to George Harrison. Joe Brown came on and sang 'I'll See You In My Dreams,' and there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

I've got a range as an actor! There was a time I played dramatic leading men.

I've never been one for late nights, which is why I have always preferred making films to theatre. A play takes over your life: you start to feel sick at lunchtime, and by mid-afternoon, you're wishing for a bomb scare so the whole thing will be called off. Of course, if the evening goes well and you get the applause, then it's wonderful.

If I was to put a little flag in everywhere I've been in the world, there'd be a lot of little flags.

My face lends itself to austere characters, and unless they're two-dimensional, I will do them. Any actor will tell you that an interesting villain is much more interesting to play.

People think I have the benefit of a public school education. I have this suave and debonair label, but really, I'm as common as muck.

Politics is the most corrupt profession on Earth, no matter where you are.

Power is always a corrupting influence.

We have to take risks in British television. It has to stop playing to the lowest common denominator and patronising people.

We need to look to our laurels a bit with television in this country. I don't think enough risks are being taken in drama television in the U.K., and I think a lot of programme makers are underestimating the intelligence of the viewing public, basing it all on ratings.

You should encourage a child to show off. You can say to a child, 'Stop being rude,' 'Stop shouting,' 'Stop jumping around on the furniture.' But 'Stop showing off'? That's awful.

I like to take pictures of lots of things: people-such as my nephews, my dogs, and just interesting objects that I see. For instance, I might take a picture of flowers by the side of the road, an old sign or a fence.

I think women are natural caretakers. They take care of everybody. They take care of their husbands and their kids and their dogs, and don't spend a lot of time just getting back and taking time out.

I am elected by the people of Bucharest, not the dogs.

My feet are dogs.

The only creatures that are evolved enough to convey pure love are dogs and infants.

Happens to everybody. Horses, dogs, men. Nobody gets out of life alive.

I'm looking more like my dogs every day - it must be the shaggy fringe and the ears.

Of the seven experiments, the ones that have been most investigated so far have been the pets. The dogs who know when their masters for coming home, and the sense of being stared at.

People who keep dogs are cowards who haven't got the guts to bite people themselves.

I've got nine kids, nine dogs, three grandkids - and one in the oven. And three parrots!

Flatterers look like friends, as wolves like dogs.

In the fifties I had dreams about touching a naked woman and she would turn to bronze or the dream about hot dogs chasing donuts through the Lincoln Tunnel.

That they may have a little peace, even the best dogs are compelled to snarl occasionally.

Dogs are very, very pleasant with people that they're connected to.

I like to be at home because I just travel so much. I have four dogs, golden retrievers.

There are writers in Germany who drink the Absolute like water; and there are books in which even the dogs make references to the Infinite.

Feed the dogs. I hate to hear them barking like that.

It seems like all the good looking people have smaller dogs these days. Especially for the women, because they always come in with their little Chihuahuas and the guys come in with their Golden Retrievers.

I hope my tongue in prune juice smothers, If I belittle dogs and mothers.

Dogs got personality. Personality goes a long way.

One of my dogs is in the movie Beethoven's 2nd.

Any man who does not like dogs and want them about does not deserve to be in the White House.